Groove Terminator Is Reinterpreting 25 Years Of EDM

Groove Terminator is creative director for the Minstry Of Sound Orchestrated tour series, coming to Australia in December.

Ministry Of Sound's Orchestrated returns in December for the national 'The Strings Of Life' tour.

“We're working on some really special, unique things that you won't hear on a record or see anywhere else,” Orchestrated's creative director, Groove Terminator says.

Described as a 'celebration of the most beloved dancefloor moments of the past 25 years', Orchestrated re-imagines a collection of club bangers from the likes of Fatboy Slim, Moby and Eric Prydz with a live symphony orchestra and guest singers.

After the success of Orchestrated first two Australian tours, this time around vocalists Sam Sparro, Crystal Waters and Alison Limerick will be joining some of Australia's finest orchestras onstage. “The shows themselves are great,” Groove Terminator says.

“It's pretty hard to beat that feeling onstage with these songs and the audience going nuts, giving you the energy that you're giving right back to them. It's kind of huge.

“When you're playing the classics, you're punching on songs [sic] that mean a lot emotionally to a lot of people for a lot of different reasons. You're tapping right into that. It's like the spinal cord of emotions.

“People have huge, life-changing moments associated with certain songs; people meeting their life partners or their exes. When you're tapping in to those [moments] and you've got those experiences, the energy is kind of nuts.”

With a shortlist of a couple hundred songs at the start, Groove Terminator – who has worked as the creative director on the previous Orchestrated events – explains the planning phase is extensive. “I actually think the more repetitive and techno songs tend to work better in an orchestra. I think it's such a juxtaposition of the original.

“From that, with the music director and with the core band, we do a week of rehearsals. With the orchestra, it's just on the day of the show. We do a couple of run-throughs, but they all know their bits."

For this year's tour, Groove Terminator says he's looking forward to getting on the road again and performing these songs with an incredible bunch of musicians. “The great thing about this line-up in particular, is they're all incredibly iconic and amazing performers in their own right.

“For me, it's always been and always will be about the music. We do Paul van Dyk's 'For An Angel' and that goes off. I'm amazed at how much that song goes off. I'm really happy with our version and it's a lot of fun to perform live. It really grabs people.”

With the emotional ties people have to this collection of classic dance songs, the live reinterpretations not only breathe new life into the original tracks, but, played together, makes for a significant and enjoyable night out.

“It's all your favourite songs, re-imagined, remixed and rearranged. It's taking all those great, iconic songs that we all know and love and repackaging them into this new, unique, shared experience.

“It's an incredible night out. It's a lot different from hanging out. There's a lot to be said for hanging out in a very small, dark, loud space in all hours of the morning. It's for people that have spent a lot of time doing that. People like myself have been doing it for over 30 years.”